{17} ✔️

Billie's POV

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"Dude, that's insane. How'd you learn to fight like that?" She questioned before handing me my phone back and focusing on my eyebrows again. I shrugged. "I ugh—my last school was rough. And I used to be obsessed with wrestling."

"Why did you leave your old school?"

"I'll tell you about that later," I sighed, trying to avoid that conversation. I just wanna forget about my last school completely. "Are you almost done, baby?"

"No."

I groaned and shut my eyes tightly. She'd been doing my makeup for like thirty minutes now and I was getting tired of it, but I'm not in any position to be complaining right now.

"You look fucking tired." She mumbled. I hummed in response. I am tired. I didn't sleep at all last night. I spent half the night staring at her as she slept, wondering how I'd managed to find such an amazing friend and how I'd managed to somehow get her to like me in the same way I liked her, and half the night staring at my phone as I tried everything I could to get that stupid picture off of Facebook. I reported every post about it that I saw and sent a lengthy message to the Facebook fuckers in charge of monitoring content or whatever the fuck. Hopefully, because she's underage, it'll be easy for them to remove all traces of it. I hope.

I don't know what else to do, though. Getting something off the internet is like impossible. What's worse is that I haven't even begun to think of how in the hell to get ahold of all the print outs of that picture. There's no way to know who exactly has one and who doesn't.

I feel fucking helpless. My stomach drops down to my ass every time I think of how shitty this all is and how this is my whole entire fault. I feel sick just thinking about how not in control of this situation I am, and I feel guilty for feeling bad because I know the one suffering the most is the girl plucking the hell out of my eyebrows right now. As bad as I feel, I know she must feel ten thousand times worse, and I hate that.

I wish it was my picture going around instead. I hate that this had to happen right now. Why couldn't it at the very least happen toward the end of the year? Or better yet, the end of senior year! That way she at least wouldn't have to deal with seeing these assholes for so long, but nope. It's basically still the beginning of the year.

"Stop fucking fidgeting, Eilish." She growled.

"It hurts! I like my thick brows, by the way. Don't fucking pluck them all off."

"I'm not! I'm just getting rid of all the hair that doesn't look good!"

"None of it looks good! It's an eyebrow, eyebrows don't look good! They're eyebrows!"

She sighed before throwing the tweezers down and then sending me a small smile. "I fucking hate you, dude."

"Thank you, baby."

"Teach me how to drive."

I raised my brows at her in surprise, not expecting that. I hadn't been expecting a lot of what had happened these past few days. "What?"

"Teach me how to drive! Come on, it'll be fun! I'm not that bad, I just need more practice and soon I'll be good enough to actually get my license."

"Okay...Why now?" I questioned curiously.

"Because I'm tired of doing your makeup, but I'm not tired of hanging out with you so I don't wanna go home. But why would I be here if there's nothing to do?"

"Touché."

***

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" I whisper yelled as I clung to the seat. She's not a bad driver at all, just a really fast driver, and that's crazy for me to say because I drive at least twenty miles over the speed limit at any given time.

"Stop exaggerating, this is fine!" She giggled before reaching over to squeeze my thigh. I quickly shoved her hand away and put it back on the steering wheel. She can touch my thigh and any other part of me any time she wants just as long as she's not fucking driving.

"Oh, come on." She rolled her eyes.

"Slow. The fuck. Down. Bitch."

She let out a loud groan, and slowed down, putting her blinker on. She turned into the parking lot of Taco Bell before turning to look at me. "I did amazing. I think I'm ready for my test!"

"I think I'm ready to puke." I teased before unbuckling my belt. "While we're here, we might as well go in."

"You go," she smiled. "I'm supposed to be eating healthy now, remember? Plus I don't like Taco Bell."

"You don't like Taco Bell?!" I screeched. "What the fuck, Doe?"

She merely shrugged her shoulders and blinked at me, unbothered. "Go get your food, Bil. If you're not out in ten minutes I'll be stealing your car."

Dahlia's POV

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I watched as Billie ran toward the restaurant, narrowly avoiding being hit by a big truck as she ran through the drive-thru path without looking both ways. I shook my head and let out a small giggle as she turned to give me the thumbs up to show me she was okay before disappearing inside.

I sighed as I heard my phone buzzing for the thousandth time since last night. Caden and Cadence kept trying to check on me and make sure I'm okay, people from my clubs who had my number were either texting to check on me or texting me the pic of me as if I hadn't already seen the damn thing, and more and more unknown numbers were beginning to text me too. Some had seemingly gotten my number from their friends, others seemed to just randomly have it because it doesn't even seem like they go to my school.

Denver had left Billie's house early this morning because he had a few chores around the house he'd promised dad he'd get done, and I know he doesn't know what's happened yet because he hasn't been blowing my phone up and he didn't ask me about it this morning before he left. He doesn't get on Facebook much which is good, and lucky for me, Cora and my dad don't have a Facebook.

Still, they'd hear from their friends soon enough that my nude was spreading around like a wildfire. Denver probably hadn't had the time to check his phone today, but as soon as he picked it up, he'd see. Cora never puts her phone down so I'll be shocked if she hasn't already heard.

I want to go home and tell them what's happened so they don't have to figure it out from someone who doesn't know the situation, but how the hell do you tell your family about something like this? I want to die just thinking about it.

Plus, going home means being away from Billie and I don't want to do that right now. She's been distracting me. When I'm with her, yeah, the thought of my picture floating around amongst my classmates lingers in the back of my mind at all times, but she makes me feel like it's all gonna be okay.

I don't have time to think about just how shitty shit is about to get when she's distracting me with her beautiful smiles, her funny voices, her goofy faces, and her adorable laughter. I don't have time to think about anything but her when she's got her hands on me in some way, whether they're resting on my sides or on my thighs or playing with my hair or holding my own hands. I don't have time to think about anything but her when she's pulling me in for a kiss. God, I could fucking kiss her all day.

It's really fucking weird. I'd cried a lot yesterday and I'm still super upset about this whole situation, but I'm not upset with her because I know she was just trying to protect me and she did what she could to make sure that this didn't happen, and I'm honestly not even as upset as I probably should be right now. This whole thing sucks, but I'm actually happy. I told Billie that I liked her and she said she likes me too, and somehow, that little bit of good canceled out all the bad shit that'd happened yesterday.

I don't know what this means. I don't know if we're gonna officially date now or if we're not gonna put a label on it and we're just gonna have fun. I don't know what she wants or what I even want.

Well, I know one thing that I want.

I want her to keep kissing me and touching me and treating me like I'm something special even though I'm not. I want her to keep being my friend too. Do I even want us to be more than that? Friends? Friends that act like a couple, I mean.

I sighed as I leaned down to put my forehead on the steering wheel. I've always fucking done this. I've always pussied out when it came to commitment. I'm just scared that if I fully commit to anything or anyone I'll end up getting hurt. That's why I'm in fifty billion fucking clubs now. I can't just be in one, I have to be in several! Never keep all your eggs in one basket, that's what they always say. Unless it's a relationship and then it's okay?

Why am I even thinking about commitment? Billie hadn't asked me to commit to anything. I'm getting ahead of myself here. All we'd done was share a few kisses. Nothing was really changing between us except the fact that we're now friends who kiss each other a lot, right?

I jumped as my phone started ringing. I had every intention to ignore it, but my eyes widened as I noticed that it was my dad this time. What if he'd found something out? What if someone told him?

"Hello?" I nearly whispered, biting my lip as I waited for him to respond.

"Hey, kiddo! Having fun with Billie?"

"I-Ugh, yeah!" I squeaked.

"Well, I'm happy to hear that! Listen, I'm sorry about this, but I need you to get home as soon as you can! I've got a big surprise for you and I think you're gonna love it!"

Well, there goes my distraction. Looks like hanging out with Billie for the rest of the day and pretending nothings happening is canceled.

"O-Okay, daddy. See you in a bit."

"Love you!"

"Love you."

I hung up quickly and put my head back on the steering wheel, mentally begging myself not to cry. He clearly knows nothing about what happened, but how in the hell am I gonna face him? Should I tell him? He'd just find out eventually anyway.

"Are you okay, baby girl?"

I jumped and let out a loud scream as Billie closed the car door behind her and sat her food down between her feet. How the hell had I not heard her open the door?! How does she always do that shit?

"I'm..." I sighed again. I'm tired of crying in front of her. I'm ugly when I cry and even uglier after, and I'm tired of bugging her with my problems. "I have to go home."

"Already?" She frowned. I nodded. "My dad called and told me to get home as soon as I can. He's got some kind of surprise for me."

"Okay," she nodded before holding her arms out the best she could. "Come here."

I awkwardly crawled over to sit in her lap and laid my head against her shoulder. We don't live very far away from each other, but I wish we lived closer. I wish she was my neighbor so that I could go home, see whatever dad has for me, and then walk right next door to her house, crawl in her bed, and cuddle with her until I feel better.

"I'm not gonna lie, I don't know how, but this is all going to be okay." She whispered as she rocked us from side to side. "I'll do some dumb shit like let the football team run a train on me or something so people stop talking about this."

I laughed and hit her shoulder lightly. "Thanks, but no thanks, Eilish."

After sitting like that for a little while longer, I sighed before crawling off and getting back into the driver's seat. Her eyes widened as she began to protest, but I cut her off quickly. "You eat your food before it gets cold and I promise I'll drive slowly."

She slowly nodded before picking up her bag and digging out a burrito.

I paid close attention to the speed as I drove to my house, trying to stay a little under the limit. Driving slowly makes me fucking anxious, honestly. I wanna get to where I need to be quickly! But Billie seemed much more relaxed now, so I stuck to the slow speed.

When I pulled up in front of my house, I tilted my head to the side as I saw a car I didn't recognize in the driveway. Probably one of Denver's friends.

That thought made me nervous. What if they told him?

"Guess I've gotta go." I mumbled before turning to give Billie a quick peck on the lips. I turned to get out but stopped when I felt her grab my wrist.

"Are you going to school Monday?" She asked. I shook my head quickly. I'll pretend to be sick or something. I can't go back this soon. "Okay, well, I'm obviously out too so text me if you need me, I don't care what time it is."

I smiled at her and nodded my head before whispering 'bye' and climbing out of the car.

I opened the front door and walked into my house, stopping in my tracks once I saw who was standing right in the middle of the living room, a wine glass in her hand and a five-year-old clinging to her leg.

"Ugh-M-Mom?" I croaked. She looked at me, pushed the child away from her and then shot me a small grin. "Hello, Janie." She always liked Jane more than she liked the name Dahlia. I hate that fucking name. Jane is so plain.

"What are you doing here?"

"I saw your nude photo on Facebook. Decided I'd stop by and see how you're doing these days."

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A/N: WOW, TEA. I can't wait to write the next chapter! I'm gonna go ahead and put a trigger warning here. There will be homophobic slurs in the next chapter and mentions of abuse. It's a dark one.